Christmas Gift 1922

,On Christmas day, 1922, a traveling photographer visiting St. Helena Island, SC, took a picture of island children who had just received gifts. The little girl who is standing is my mother-in-law, Kathleen Grant. She was 9-years-old and already an orphan. Many years later, in the 1970's, a box of photographic plates were discovered in the attic of the Penn School, which was the first school for freedmen in the south. The photo that inspired this painting was among them. The original painting is oil and silver leaf on wood panel. It is in a private collection in Chicago, IL.